‘Cosmo’ Editor-In-Chief, Feminist, Philanthropist, Icon Helen Gurley Brown, Dead At 90
Helen Gurley Brown, the iconic editor-in-chief of “Cosmopolitan” magazine, aka, “Cosmo,” a stalwart feminist who helped women in the ’60’s become women of the ’60’s, and a philanthropist, is dead at the age of 90. Brown, who never became irrelevant, is credited for creating “Cosmo Girls,” and helping engender the sexual revolution. She was a long-time author, publisher, and businesswoman, and even at the age of 90 still had the media writing about her and her creation, Cosmo.
Helen Gurley Brown, who authored seven books in total, ran Cosmo from 1965 — three years after the publication of her first book, Sex and The Single Girl — until 1997, when she became international editor at Heart for all Cosmo editions.
Four years ago, Brown was named the 13th most powerful woman over 80 by Slate Magazine.
“Gurley Brown will be remembered among the most influential editors of all time,” MediaBistro’s Chris O’Shea noted, adding:
“It would be hard to overstate the importance to Hearst of her success with Cosmopolitan, or the value of the friendship many of us enjoyed with her,†commented Frank Bannack, CEO of Hearst, in an announcement to colleagues. “Helen was one of the world’s most recognized magazine editors and book authors, and a true pioneer for women in journalism — and beyond.â€
“Helen was an inspiration, a true success story. Her energy, enthusiasm and true passion for women’s issues unleashed a platform for women worldwide,†said David Carey, president of Hearst Magazines, in a statement. “She brought the subject that every woman wanted to know about but nobody talked about, to life, literally, in Cosmo’s pages.â€
Wikipedia also notes:
Together with her husband David, Helen Gurley established the David and Helen Gurley Brown Institute for Media Innovation. This institution will be housed at both the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Stanford’s Engineering School. Their $30 million donation to the two schools will be used to develop journalism in the context of new technologies.
Of Cosmo, Buzzfeed’s Anna North just last week wrote:
Cosmo, as both a magazine and a worldwide brand, is full of contradictions. Most basically, it’s a publication that became what it was thanks to Helen Gurley Brown, a powerful and sometimes revolutionary woman — and at the same time, its content can look neither empowering nor revolutionary. In the New York Times magazine this weekend, Edith Zimmerman highlighted these contradictions. She cites headlines like “Eeek! You’ll Die When You Read What These ‘Normal’ Guys Wanted Once Their Pants Hit the Floor†(from American Cosmo) and “Oops! My V Zone Is Strange!†(from the South Korean version, which underscore the mag’s reputation as, in one of her friends’ words, “trash.” But then she quotes the editor of Cosmo Kazakhstan’s message to her readers: “You are strong, you can control your life, you can earn as much as men do and you can have sex before marriage and not be condemned by society.” It’s messages like this that makeCosmo tough to dismiss.
That’s what Gail Dines would like readers to do, though. In a Guardian response to Zimmerman’s piece, Dines (who also wrote a polemic against pornography) argues that Cosmo is materialistic and obsessively focused on pleasing men, and that instead, women deserve “a bestselling magazine that devoted itself to giving women great orgasms on our own terms.”
Just ten days ago, in “99 Ways to Be Naughty in Kazakhstan – How Cosmo Conquered the World,”  Edith Zimmerman at The New York Times wrote:
Helen Gurley Brown, or H.G.B. as she’s known in the Cosmo universe, is the patron saint of Cosmopolitan’s sex-centric brand of female empowerment. The author of the then-scandalous self-help book “Sex and the Single Girl†— which advised women on how to better enjoy their jobs, relationships and bodies — Brown re-branded the magazine with her frank, sexy tone in 1965, when most women’s magazines were focused on family and home economics. She remained editor until 1997 and is still listed as editor in chief for Cosmopolitan International on all mastheads.
At 90, Brown maintains a delightfully incongruous pink corner office in the gleaming Hearst Tower on 57th Street in Manhattan. And although somewhat retired, she remains something of a spiritual godmother for the dozens of international editors trying to implement her ideas in their own countries. “ ‘Sex and the Single Girl’ is still the G.P.S. to being W.O.W. — a well-turned-out woman!†explained the editor of Cosmo South Africa, Sbu Mpungose. As has been the case with other newer Cosmos, the first issue of Cosmo Azerbaijan, in 2011, included a feature on Brown: “It was absolutely necessary for girls in our country to know who she is,†the magazine’s editor, Leyla Orujova, explained.
Akisheva, the editor in Kazakhstan, told me that until recently, she received a handwritten note from Brown after the publication of each issue. “Our readers might not be very familiar with Helen Gurley Brown’s books and biography,†she said, “but they surely are influenced by her original ideas. Because this is what Cosmo keeps telling them: You are strong, you can control your life, you can earn as much as men do and you can have sex before marriage and not be condemned by society.â€
A few quotes from “HGB,” compiled by The Huffington Post earlier this year — a testament to her eternal relevance:
‘My success was not based so much on any great intelligence but on great common sense.’
‘Never fail to know that if you are doing all the talking, you are boring somebody.’
‘The message was: So you’re single. You can still have sex. You can have a great life. And if you marry, don’t just sponge off a man or be the gold-medal-winning mother. Don’t use men to get what you want in life — get it for yourself.’
‘Nearly every glamorous, wealthy, successful career woman you might envy now started out as some kind of schlepp.’
‘Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere.’
Image:Â Helen Gurley Brown, 1964
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House Oversight Republicans held a contempt of Congress hearing for Attorney General Merrick Garland while lawmakers allegedly were drinking alcohol and acting “pretty ugly” during Thursday night’s proceedings. Now, they are the ones accused of behavior “embarrassing to our institution” by Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who wants an investigation.
“Members of the panel ultimately advanced a contempt of Congress resolution against Attorney General Merrick Garland on a party-line vote, but the far more striking takeaway was the personal attacks and theatrics lobbed between lawmakers in both parties — as Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) struggled unsuccessfully to gain control for more than an hour,” Politico reported Friday, adding: “both Republicans and Democrats acknowledged some members had been drinking that evening.”
Who was drinking remains a secret.
“A House Republican described the hearing as ’embarrassing’ and ‘a four -alarm dumpster fire,'” Axios reported. “The session quickly devolved into chaos, with Democrats blasting the GOP for postponing the hearing so several members could visit former President Trump’s trial and Republicans heckling them in response.”
One Democrat during the hearing spoke up.
READ MORE: Why Alito’s ‘Stop the Steal’ Flag Story Just Fell Apart
Ranking Member Raskin “said it was ’embarrassing to our institution’ and that he ‘constantly’ instructs his members to maintain a ‘high level of dignity and respect and decorum.'”
“We have some members in the room who are drinking inside the hearing room … who are not on this committee,” alleged Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM).
The Hill adds that Congressman Raskin said, “I didn’t see the drinking,” and that “the gentlelady from New Mexico, Melanie Stansbury raised it, she said there are members drinking in the room, and that’s something that is worth investigating if there was in fact drinking taking place.”
One unnamed House Republican told Axios, “This place is so stupid.”
The evening’s events quickly took a bad turn when U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), violating decorum, interrupted Ranking Member Raskin barely 30 seconds into his remarks.
Watch below or at this link.
READ MORE: ‘Partisan Insurrectionist’: Calls Mount for Alito’s Ouster After ‘Stop the Steal’ Scandal
Justice Samuel Alito’s defense for why there was a “Stop the Steal” flag flying at his Alexandria, Virginia home three days before Joe Biden’s inauguration, ten days after the January 6, 2021 insurrection, just fell apart.
The entire justification for a sitting U.S. Supreme Court justice with lifetime tenure who refuses to recuse himself from cases including ones related to the 2020 election, which ethics experts and U.S. Senators say he is obligated to do so, is a dispute with a neighbor, according to The New York Times‘ original reporting, and a Fox News reporter.
Critics say his defense doesn’t justify flying a U.S. flag upside down, a symbol of the Stop the Steal movement used by insurrectionists.
In brief, Fox News’ Shannon Bream reports Justice Alito “told me a neighbor on their street had a ‘F— Trump’ sign that was within 50 feet of where children await the school bus in Jan 21. Mrs. Alito brought this up with the neighbor.”
“According to Justice Alito, things escalated and the neighbor put up a sign personally addressing Mrs. Alito and blaming her for the Jan 6th attacks,” Bream wrote. She added Alito “says he and his wife were walking in the neighborhood and there were words between Mrs. Alito and a male at the home with the sign. Alito says the man engaged in vulgar language, ‘including the c-word’,” which prompted Mrs. Alito to hang the American flag upside down as the insurrections did on January 6.
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Court watchers and critics have called into question Alito’s judgment. Senate Democratic Judiciary Chairman Dick Durban has called for the Justice to recuse himself from all cases related to the 2020 presidential election, NBC News is reporting.
Critics are asking if Justice and/or Mrs. Alito’s response to an alleged dispute with neighbors was appropriate, but now Justice Alito’s telling of events is being called into question entirely.
Aaron Fritschner, Deputy Chief of Staff for U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), says no school children would have been waiting for school buses at the time the Alito’s flag was photographed upside down, because schools had moved to virtual learning during the COVID pandemic at that time in the area the Alitos reside.
Justice Alito says his wife Martha-Ann Alito had an altercation with neighbors about a “‘Fuck Trump’ sign that was within 50 feet of where children await the school bus in Jan 21.”
Except… FCPS and ACPS were all remote in January of 2021. No children were waiting for buses: https://t.co/Ethmbhu2EP pic.twitter.com/g27dVbTtzC
— Aaron Fritschner (@Fritschner) May 17, 2024
Further calling into question Justice Alito’s claims, CNN’s Holmes Lybrand, a former fact-checker for The Weekly Standard, reports none of the Alitos’ neighbors remember the alleged dispute the justice recounted.
“I spoke with some of Justice Alito’s neighbors who said they remember the American flag being flown upside-down at his home but didn’t recall any neighborhood drama surrounding it,” Lyband reports. “Each neighbor I spoke with reiterated multiple times how kind and well-liked the Alitos are.”
In its report that broke the story, The New York Times noted, “The half-dozen neighbors who saw the flag, or knew of it, requested anonymity because they said they did not want to add to the contentiousness on the block and feared reprisal.”
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Editor’s note: The spelling of Fox News host Shannon Bream’s last name has been corrected.
Justice Samuel Alito on Friday appeared to compound concerns over the bombshell New York Times report revealing a flag associated with the January 6 insurrection and the “Stop the Steal” movement was flying at his house just before Joe Biden was inaugurated and while the Supreme Court was reviewing a 2020 election case.
Alito, whose far-right positions including writing the majority opinion in the Supreme Court case overturning Roe v. Wade, have infuriated and frustrated the left, once again has found himself the subject of apprehension over his impartiality and grasp of ethical norms.
In a rare move, the embattled justice, who now faces strong calls for his ouster, spoke immediately to the news media to address those issues, and revealed the story behind the decision to fly the “Stop the Steal” flag at his home.
Confirming again it was his wife who put the flag up, Alito seemed neither remorseful nor cognizant of the great ethical and credibility violation that act represented.
RELATED: ‘Partisan Insurrectionist’: Calls Mount for Alito’s Ouster After ‘Stop the Steal’ Scandal
“I spoke directly with Justice #Alito about the flag story in the NYT,” Fox News host Shannon Bream reported late Friday morning via social media. “In addition to what’s in the story, he told me a neighbor on their street had a ‘F— Trump’ sign that was within 50 feet of where children await the school bus in Jan 21. Mrs. Alito brought this up with the neighbor.”
“According to Justice Alito, things escalated and the neighbor put up a sign personally addressing Mrs. Alito and blaming her for the Jan 6th attacks,” Bream continued.
“Justice Alito says he and his wife were walking in the neighborhood and there were words between Mrs. Alito and a male at the home with the sign. Alito says the man engaged in vulgar language, ‘including the c-word’,” she wrote. “Following that exchange, Mrs. Alito was distraught and hung the flag upside down ‘for a short time’. Justice Alito says some neighbors on his street are ‘very political’ and acknowledges it was a very heated time in January 2021.”
The Bulwark’s Bill Kristol chastised Bream, noting she got Alito’s side of the story without “trying to see how it compares with the accounts and recollections of others involved. If only the anchor had the resources of a ‘news’ channel to seek out the truth!”
Some critics responding to Bream’s report say Alito’s explanation doesn’t make their perception of his actions — or his wife’s – any more reasonable.
Former George W. Bush administration official Christian Vanderbrouk commented, “Sam Alito is unapologetic for desecrating an American symbol as part of a neighborhood feud.”
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“Interesting claims by Alito,” attorney Robert J. DeNault remarked. “Not sure it’s reasonable to think any person would react to a neighbor disagreeing — even crassly or rudely — over Trump by hanging an American flag upside down. Does not feel credible to contend Alito’s upside flag was divorced from MAGA symbolism.”
“Alito speaks to Fox about New York Times report, continues to attribute it to his wife, but does not explain why his wife’s reaction to a ‘fuck Trump’ sign and being insulted was to hang an American flag upside down in the days after Jan. 6.” observed CNN’s Edward-Isaac Dovere. “Suburban neighborhood disputes happen all the time – over lawn care, noisy children, Christmas lights… all sorts of things. Not many instances of an escalated response being a now very politicized symbol of military distress.”
“Friendly reminder the entire GOP and Fox News is screaming on practically a daily basis that Judge Merchan needs to recuse because of the work his adult daughter separately does,” national security attorney Brad Moss offered. “But yeah, this is no biggie.”
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